Keepers of the Flame: Where to turn for top-down American muscle? Why, right here.

We at Car and Driver are sadly aware that younger readers view several editors here as, well, old farts, hopelessly mired in the automotive past as new trends threaten to pass us by at speeds that would twist our turtlenecks and wrinkle our Sansabelt slacks.

This point is driven home by confoundingly frequent reader letters and e-mails—some containing correct spellings, giving us all hope for the future of public schools—that point accusing fingers at those of us who actually remember the name of that backup group Paul McCartney used to play with. We can picture you there at the keyboard of your iMac, forefinger tapping your nose ring for inspiration, as you whip out a pithy note insisting that your nitrous-sniffing slammed Honda Civic is the future, and that the gas-guzzling V-8s we hold so dear are dinosaurs.

Hey, that hurts. We watch Tom Green on MTV. We laugh at Regis, wince at Kathie Lee. We feel Felicity's pain. We listen to Barenaked Ladies. What, you think you discovered Zippy the Pinhead?

But on this V-8 thing—we gotta agree to disagree. Several of us sitting around at lunch were talking about great exhaust sounds (our lunches really are as exciting as you imagine!) when we almost unanimously agreed that we grew up listening to the American V-8, and to us, that was the sound of power.

Unanimously, except for a fresh-faced road warrior who drives an old Acura Integra. "When I think of the sound of fast cars," he offered, "I think of, you know, like, really tuned four-cylinders."

Ah, youth.

All this introspection turned our attention to the trio of throwbacks, the keepers of the flame: the Ford Mustang, the Chevy Camaro, the Pontiac Firebird. They meet the LAF criteria—loud, affordable, fast. We felt it was time to revisit these pony cars and see how well the idea of rear-wheel-drive V-8s has fared.

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So we ordered up the hottest stuff: Ford's new-for-'99 SVT Mustang Cobra, the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 SS, and the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Send us the fastest models available from our local dealers, we said. Manual transmissions, we demanded (they still make those, right?). And while you're at it, chop the tops. We want to feel the wind rushing through (what is left of) our hair. It'll make us feel young again!

We drove the trio down to Honda's Transportation Research Center in Ohio for testing, which included top-speed blasts around the 7.5-mile oval. Then we went to GingerMan Raceway in western Michigan, an 11-turn road course where we spent the better part of a day thrashing the three cars.

And then we summoned a fellow old fart, a literal graybeard, who graciously set aside his walker and lapped the three cars for us (see sidebar "How a Pro Rates These Pony Cars"). That particular graybeard was Paul Gentilozzi, 49, the 1998 Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am champion, who started 1999 with a win at the Long Beach Grand Prix, resoundingly kicking the collective butts of a bunch of snot-nosed youngsters.

Sound interesting? Read on.

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A former staffer once assigned to write a Pontiac Trans Am road test mentioned to his associates that he wished he could hang a sign out the window that read, "This is not my car!" Invariably dramatic, the Trans Am's styling has crossed over to the snarkily garish, and the limited-edition 30th-anniversary package is just slightly beyond garish.

For an extra $1575, that package gives you 17-inch aluminum wheels with a blue clear-coat tint sprayed on, a blue cloth top, white leather seats with anniversary-edition embroidery on the headrests, and several other trim pieces. We could not help feeling we were about to be arrested by Starsky or Hutch.

That said, when the three cars were parked together, invariably the attention of civilians turned first to our Firebird, No. 0052 according to a dash plaque. When we took the car to a McDonald' s drive-through, the pimply slacker who waited on us could scarcely contain his bubbling hormones, immediately summoning a half-dozen fellow slackers to drool all over our Quarter Pounders. "Odd," wrote one tester. "This car is absolutely coveted by people who can't afford it."

It was by far the most expensive of the three, topping out at $37,092, a price bolstered by the nonanniversary $595 trunk-mounted, 12-disc CD changer, which was in addition to the in-dash CD player that comes with the potent Monsoon sound system. Mostly, though, you're paying for exclusivity, as only 500 anniversary convertibles and 1000 anniversary coupes will be sold in the U.S.

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If you're looking for the fastest car of the trio, your search stops here. The Trans Am matched the Camaro with a 5.3-second 0-to-60-mph time, but then the Trans Am pulled away, hitting 100 mph 0.2 second quicker, 130 mph 1.8 seconds quicker, and finally a governed 163 mph, whereas the Camaro ran out of steam at 160.

Why? We aren't certain. The Trans Am has the heavily advertised Ram Air, fed to the air filter through a baffled snout. The Camaro has a more circuitous system—its hood scoop feeds a little air to the air cleaner through two long ducts that route from the middle of the hood to the rear and back to the front. Although we doubt the Pontiac's Ram Air system is sealed up against the air cleaner well enough to pressurize intake air, we suspect it does, at least, deliver more cool air. We also suspect the Trans Am's engine may be just a hair stouter than the SS's. Or maybe the Trans Am's flip-up headlights, although clunky when operated, are aerodynamically slicker. Regardless, this was a waaay quick car.

On the test track and the racetrack, though, the Pontiac had the sloppiest handling. It weighs a scant 43 pounds more than the Camaro, but nearly all of that extra weight is on the nose, making it understeer more. The suspension also allowed excessive body motions. "Twitchier than the Camaro," wrote one tester after the lane-change maneuver, "requiring a delicate touch."

At GingerMan Raceway, "there's more body roll than in the Camaro," wrote another tester, and under hard cornering, "I can hear the tires hitting the wheel wells." The Hurst shifter—also on the Camaro—received criticism: "It's the only one I ever miss shifts in." There was substantial brake fade after extended lapping, slightly more severe than the Camaro's.

On the road, though, the Trans Am was an entirely competent cruiser. "I love the way it lopes along in sixth gear at 85 mph," wrote one tester. When introduced in the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette, the LS1 engine's exhaust note seemed slightly sterile. On the Trans Am and SS, it's as sweet as the old LT1 ever was.

Inside, the Pontiac's front seats drew the highest marks, mostly because of the adjustable side bolsters and lumbar support, but its thinly padded steering wheel drew the lowest. Instruments and controls were where they should be, and the Trans Am was the only one of the three with steering-wheel-operated sound controls.

Like the two other cars, dropping the top requires unlatching the windshield header before powering the top down. It's a fifteen-second job on all three. Still, we think the GM twins make slightly better convertibles than the Ford. Wind buffeting at speed is lower in the Pontiac and Chevy, and chassis stiffness seemed slightly better, too. All the tops were watertight in the carwash, and none suffered any flap or flutter at maximum speed. The Mustang had the best, easiest-to-use tonneau cover—it's a soft one-piece unit, whereas the GM cars use a hard three-piece unit—but we'd leave all of them at home, as they dominate the already minimal trunk space.

Given the fact that the Pontiac and the Chevrolet are built on the same assembly line, GM has done a reasonably effective job of giving them unique identities. If you like the Trans Am's identity—and are among those admirers who can actually afford to buy one—we sure won't try to talk you out of it. From the suspension up, though, Chevy's version is more our kind of car.

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Speaking of throwbacks, we keep wondering when Ford's exalted upper management will discover that the Special Vehicle Team exists and appears to be having fun, and therefore must be eliminated. This little group of in-house skunkworkers is currently responsible for three very potent, very limited-edition hot rods: the SVT Contour, the F-150 Lightning pickup, and the Mustang Cobra.

Going into this comparison test, the just-released Cobra convertible had to be seeded the favorite. It's the freshest makeover of a moderately dated platform and has the new, SVT-exclusive independent rear suspension. The standard Mustang, as well as GM's Camaro and Firebird competitors, still use a rigid rear axle.

The Cobra's engine is also the most up-to-date, with the 4.6-liter V-8 sporting four valves per cylinder and double overhead camshafts, while the GM entries have two-valve pushrod technology in their 5.7-liter V-8s. This modernized technology allows the Cobra to pump out an advertised 320 horsepower for 1999—exactly matching the GM motors' although it spots them 65 cubic inches. The displacement deficit explains the Ford's 18 less pound-feet of torque. At least the Ford can rev much higher—to 6800 rpm vs. the 6000 rpm of the GM twins.

The Cobra was the least expensive of the three, with an out-the-door price of $32,190. Although hardly bare-bones, it ranked lowest on our "features" scale, but only by a few points. Whereas the GM cars had leather on all seating surfaces, the Cobra had leather up front and leather-look vinyl in the rear. The rather heavy hood was held up by a balky prop rod, whereas the GM cars used hydraulic shocks. The manual transmission was a five-speed, whereas the GM twins had six-speeds. Relatively minor points, perhaps, but this was a comparison test that was, in the end, decided by minor points.

One thing in the Cobra's favor was its rear quarter-windows. It's more work to build a convertible with four side windows instead of two, but having that little bit of extra glass back there provides the car with considerably better rearward visibility. Measured from the front edge of the convertible top to the outward edge of the back window, you'd find a 32-inch blind spot on the GM cars. That blind spot is 22 inches on the Mustang, thanks mostly to the extra glass those rear side windows provide.

"A very quiet ride for a convertible at 90 mph," one tester noted in the logbook. "A very high, upright driving position, even with the power seat adjusted all the way down." The driving position seemed even more so after stints in the Camaro and Firebird, where the seating position is largely butt-on-the-floor.

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Although none of the front seats drew raves, the Mustang's drew only complaints for their lack of lateral support and their puny headrests. And although none of these cars is noted for rear-seat room or access, the Mustang's was the least roomy, with less kneeroom and far less headroom. In any of these cars, the rear seat is best left for groceries and small people.

Despite the plasticky dash, the Cobra's controls were the easiest to use, except for the button-happy sound system. The black-on-white-face instruments had a pleasant green glow at night, an SVT trademark. The Mach 460 sound system—an AM/FM/cassette with a separate in-dash CD player—was a close second to the Monsoon system in the Trans Am, but to our aging ears, all three stereo systems were excellent. Although these three cars each have eight cubic feet of trunk space, the Mustang's is in a far more usable configuration.

On the road, the Cobra seemed the most buttoned down, especially on rough pavement, where the independent rear suspension shines. We still found room for improvement, however. "Well balanced, but steering feel is minimal," a tester wrote. "The wheel is simply a directional dial. There's also a soft, somewhat disconnected sense here, although the car is very well behaved."

The Cobra offered the best roadholding and was the clear winner in the lane change. "The easiest to drive in this exercise by far," we noted. "Steering response is gradual and accurate, and when the tail does break away, the slide is smooth and controlled."

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Although the Cobra's beefy brakes took 189 feet to stop from 70 mph, compared with 175 for the Camaro and 178 for the Firebird, once they heated up at the racetrack, they were superb. "After a long lapping session at the racetrack," a tester wrote, "the Mustang is the only one of the three that still has brakes."

In a straight line, though, the Cobra suffered. Zero to 60 mph took 6.0 seconds in the Mustang and just 5.3 seconds in both GM cars. The quarter-mile time for the Cobra was 14.6 seconds, with the Camaro and Firebird doing it in 13.9. Surprisingly, the independent rear suspension made the Cobra slightly more prone to wheel hop and consequently more difficult, rather than easier, to launch smoothly off the line. We'd expected the opposite.

In top-speed times, the Mustang really suffered, due mostly to the gearing. Its 149-mph top speed was reached in fourth gear with the engine screaming along at 6550 rpm, well above the Cobra's 6000-rpm power peak. Shift into fifth, and speed dropped to 140 mph. The Camaro and the Trans Am didn't have this problem. Their gearing allows top speeds much closer to the power peaks of their engines.

On paper, the Cobra convertible's numbers appeared to be in the ballpark. When we tested the Cobra coupe (C/D, April 1999), our 0-to-60-mph time was 5.5 seconds, with a quarter-mile time of 14.1 seconds and an identical top speed. Given the fact that our convertible weighed about 300 pounds more than the coupe we tested in April, that seemed plausible.

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But to several of us, the Cobra did not have the punch we were expecting or have experienced with other 320-hp Cobras. We called SVT about our test results, and it said, indeed, that was slower than expected.

And when SVT got its car back, this was confirmed. In fact, that led SVT to look at the batch of engines produced when our Cobra convertible was built, and according to a commendably candid spokesman, the engines might have a problem. But at this writing, SVT doesn't know what it is. We're confident SVT can and will correct any problems, not only in future cars, but also in those already shipped to dealers.

SVT promptly sent over a Cobra convertible with an engine from a different batch, and it was indeed quicker—0 to 60 mph in a more-like-it 5.6 seconds instead of 6.0 seconds; a quarter-mile run of 14.2 seconds at 100 mph instead of 14.6 seconds at 98 mph. Top speed remained 149 mph. If we'd had that car for the whole test, the Cobra might have scored slightly higher, but it's doubtful it would have passed the Camaro.

When the SS arrived at Hogback Road, we were slightly disappointed. Rather than a dynamic black like the Cobra, or a sparkling white like the Trans Am, the SS was an understated pewter with a black top. We were expecting perhaps arrest-me red.

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But the longer we had it, the more handsome it seemed. It has nice, almost elegant lines, complemented by the quiet color. In the end, we gave it the highest marks in styling. And we also appreciated that this was a 160-mph convertible that did not shout its presence to ticket-hungry cops.

It took us less time to appreciate the way the SS went quietly about its business. As fast as the Trans Am up to about 90 mph, the SS bested the two others in general drivability, but only marginally. Much that was said about the Camaro applied to the Firebird, such as: "Every time I get into one of these F-body cars, I'm amazed by their ponderous feel. Although the Camaro is very responsive, I feel as if I'm maneuvering the Queen Mary."

"The steering seems quick off-center," wrote a tester. "This will take some getting used to."

That sensation dissipated at the racetrack, where the Camaro's tighter suspension was obvious. "More composed, responsive, cleaner out here. Not as much steering correction is required for tail-out slides. You can really throw this thing around, and it just hangs on. Amazing, considering the price, and the fact that it's a droptop," a tester noted.

The SS could slither through the emergency-lane-change maneuver as quickly as the Trans Am, but more slowly than the Cobra. "The Camaro has faster, more delicate steering than the Mustang," recorded a driver. "You must turn in with your fingertips, or you wash out the front end instantly. And when the tail goes, it goes with a big wiggle."

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Both the GM cars wore the same tires—Goodyear Eagle F1 GS P275/40ZR-17s—and they drew few complaints for their performance on wet and dry pavement. The BFGoodrich Comp T/A 245/45ZR-17s on the Mustang worked very well in the dry but skated more than we'd anticipated in the wet.

The SS's leather-trimmed interior was undistinguished but thoughtfully executed. The Delco stereo sounded fine and contained an AM/FM/cassette/CD player in one unit. It was the only stereo with a speed-controlled-volume feature.

As with all the F-body cars, there were two inherent problems: The incredibly steep windshield rake means a picnic-table-size dashboard beneath it, and the presence of a catalytic converter beneath the passenger-side floor means a big hump that, when covered with a floor mat, appears as if you're trying to conceal contraband.

All things considered, though, the Camaro is the car we'd be the most willing to drive on a daily basis. As with the two others, traction control and ABS make the SS nearly a year-round car as long as the snowfall is light and infrequent, but unlike the two others, the Camaro seems less like a midlife-crisis car and more like an opportunity to sensibly recapture a little of the past.

And get you home by 10 p.m., and in bed by 11.

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The Chevrolet Camaro, the Pontiac Firebird, and the Ford Mustang make up most of the field in the Sports Car Club of America's BFGoodrich Trans-Am Series. Although 1998 champ Paul Gentilozzi dominated the series with a Chevrolet Corvette, for 1999 he has switched to Ford. The new-for-'99 SVT Cobra came out of the box a winner. Gentilozzi drove it to victory in the Long Beach Grand Prix, the first race of the year.

Of course, as is typical with many of the professional racing series, Gentilozzi's Mustang Cobra has comparatively little in common with the civilian version. It uses a tube-frame chassis and a 625-hp V-8, but Trans-Am race cars still have more in common with roadgoing pony cars than do the cars in any other racing series—a front engine, rear-wheel drive, a manual transmission, and a honking V-8.

We asked the current champ to weigh in on the latest Camaro, Mustang, and Firebird ragtop performance versions. After Gentilozzi agreed, we rented GingerMan Raceway, the 1.88-mile road course in western Michigan where we tested his championship-winning Corvette (C/D, November 1998), and turned him loose. Several staffers also drove multiple laps in the cars, and our observations were quite similar to his.

As far as credentials, Gentilozzi's win at Long Beach came in his 138th Trans-Am race. He had seven wins last year en route to the championship, leading 438 of the 674 laps run in 1998. He has also won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and finished third in his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. At 49, he believes he's driving better than ever, and his results back that up.

We timed Gentilozzi, and for a baseline, we also timed senior technical editor Don Schroeder, who more than held his own. Worth noting: Gentilozzi's Trans‑Am Cobra laps GingerMan about 20 seconds faster than the quickest of our cars.

Even though Gentilozzi drives a Mustang and his racing program gets some help from Ford, we've spent enough time around the real-estate tycoon to know that, if he doesn't like something, he'll say so. We were confident he wouldn't sugar-coat any criticism of the Mustang if it deserved criticizing. And it did, but it also deserved praise.

"The brakes and the gearbox are the best part of the car," Gentilozzi said. "The power is down compared to the other two, so you can't just get on the gas and control the balance of the car. If they're going to build a four-valve engine, it ought to be the 5.4-liter, so they can get back some of the torque they're giving up to the other two."

The Cobra is deceptive. Gentilozzi said that even though the lack of torque kept the car from squirting out of the corners the way the GM twins do, he felt he was turning quicker lap times with the Cobra because of the handling—"Less entry oversteer with this independent rear suspension," he said—and the excellent brakes. "You aren't going to win drag races with this car, but it'd hold its own in a road race."

That's right—our guy knocked out a quicker lap time in the Trans Am than did the Trans-Am champ. Gentilozzi said it just didn't suit his driving style. "There's a lot of entry roll coming into the corners," Gentilozzi said. "You unload the back end, and that causes oversteer."

As we all did, he praised the stout engine. "There's plenty of power, and the gearbox is nice, and the driving position is good. But this steering—you get no feel for the road. You hold the steering wheel in a certain position, and you feel you should be getting a certain amount of turn-in, but you don't." Under hard braking, Gentilozzi noticed some rear-axle hop—"The last car I had that hopped like this was my '68 Camaro Z28. It's disconcerting."

Gentilozzi could not resist a comment about the Trans Am's styling. "This one's Penthouse," he said, pointing to the Camaro SS. "And that one's Hustler," he said, pointing to the Trans Am.

"It doesn't fight you as much as the Firebird," Gentilozzi said, dirt-tracking the Camaro SS through a sweeper. "And it's definitely more forgiving." He found the Camaro to be more precise in the entry and exit of turns. "I know this is basically the same car as the Firebird, so the differences must be just general calibrations on the suspension. But this one seems like the best hot rod of the bunch."

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Gentilozzi praised the chassis rigidity of all three cars, and the fact that while they're capable of cranking out very respectable lap times, they're also able and willing to serve as daily transportation.

Still, "I don't drive as many street cars as you do," he said, "so I guess I'm not as tolerant of some of the crap they make you put up with." Case in point: Although the timed laps were taken with the traction control turned off, Gentilozzi took some casual laps with the traction control engaged, and he was particularly put off by the invasive nature of the GM system, which kicks back on the accelerator pedal. He was also annoyed by GM's first-to-fourth shifter, which eliminates second and third gears as a fuel-saving measure when driven leisurely.

Let's face it: it was much easier for Ford and General Motors to justify building these three cars when they shared platforms or assorted bits and pieces with existing products. They don't anymore. The one with the most promising future, though appears to be the Mustang, which continues to sell nearly twice as many cars as the Camaro and Firebird combined. The 1999 Mustang benefited from an extensive freshening, so we're guessing it will be around at least through 2002. After that, rumors are that if it is to continue, it could be built on the Lincoln LS platform that will serve as a basis for the 2001 Ford Thunderbird.

As for the Camaro and Firebird, the Canadian plant will definitely cease production of the two. There will be 2001 models, we hear. Beyond that, their fate is murky.

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Several possibilities loom at GM, though, for a rear-drive V-8 car. One is to adopt the Holden platform currently being developed in Australia but that, for various reasons, is not expected to happen. Another presented to us by one GM exec is to keep the Firebird name but drop the Camaro, making the Firebird a semiluxury four-passenger coupe on the Cadillac Evoq platform, and leave the Corvette to Chevrolet.

A final scenario has the Camaro being moved upscale, sharing a platform with the Corvette, built in the underutilized Vette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We might seesome movement in that direction as early as this fall. Rumor is that Chevy is building a show car for the Specialty Equipment. Market Association trade show that is, in essence, a four-seat Corvette, possibly testing the water.

And a final, fanciful scenario was broached at a press event for the new front-drive Monte Carlo. "You know," said one Chevy exec, "this platform could be made rear-wheel drive quite easily." —SCS

In the good old days, wind in the hair was the allure of convertibles, but in this era of cell phones, digital stereo sound, and $60 hairdos, wind-reducing devices are all the rage. Most high-end ragtops offer custom-fit clear-plastic or mesh-screen wind blockers that fit just behind the front seats to prevent backdrafts from entering the cockpit.

Chevy, Ford, and Pontiac do not offer such devices, but Wind Baffle (888-266-WIND) sells a product for $249 (plus shipping) that can be mounted in most convertibles on the road today. The Wind Baffle's polycarbonate panel is 30 inches wide by 20 inches high. It installs like a tension rod for curtains. Two spring rods adjust laterally to fit the width of the car, and each fits into a small plastic cup that mounts to the side trim panel with adhesive-backed hook-and-loop fasteners. A third vertical rod presses down onto the rear seat or package shelf for stability. A safety cable tethers the unit to the front seat. With the Wind Baffle installed, the rear seat can't be used but the top can be raised and lowered.

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The Wind Baffle dramatically reduced backdrafts and wind noise in all three pony cars, although wind still tickled the tops of our heads. It rendered the more aerodynamic Camaro and Firebird cockpits nearly still with the windows up—even at speeds of 110 mph. The Cobra was transformed from tornado-watch gusty to merely breezy, and the backdraft was nearly eliminated. Reducing cockpit turbulence improves the effectiveness of the climate controls, so this product should help to extend the convertible driving season. For the acid test of the Wind Baffle's mounting system, we logged 1600 miles in a buzzy, rattly, flexy vintage British roadster, and it only popped loose twice. At the price, the Wind Baffle seems like a must. —Frank Markus